Uncovering the Potential of the Foot as a Source of User Information

Research in previous decades has explored foot interaction via foot interfaces, namely with pressure sensitive insoles [8, 13, 14]. Two major applications analyzed the gait for rehabilitation purposes [1–3] and evaluated the gait to measure an individual’s workout performance [7, 15, 16]. Another prominent application for pressure sensitive insoles, uses explicit foot gestures as an alternative control interface for designing input, such as for computers [4, 5]. Recently [11], implicit interaction with smart insoles has been investigated particularly for personal identification, detecting posture, and identifying the user’s walking terrain. Besides input, providing feedback underneath the foot to enable eyes-free interaction [10, 12], is also being researched. However, I am convinced that there is still a vast amount of unexplored information about the feet. Focusing research on pressure sensitive insoles, within this particular type of foot interface, is beneficial as it is less obtrusive than wearing bulky cameras or multiple IMUs attached to the leg and foot. An insole can simply be worn inside footwear and remain unnoticed by others. In this PhD research, I aim to contribute new concepts that will complement previous research in the domain of mobile computing. To accomplish this, I am going to examine three application scenarios related to foot interfaces, which has not broadly explored by previous research. The application scenarios will be: